I had watched the race from the side for the past 5
years and was super excited that I got selected for the support race this year.
There would be a lot to write (not very interesting though from the perspective
of the back of the race) but not much to report for me , EXCEPT THAT YOU MOs AT
THE EDGE OF THE COURSE WHERE ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!! Thank you so much for the
enduring frenetic support even for one of your fellows in such hopeless
position. Your cheers and screaming my name made this race a memorable and
positive experience, despite my hopeless riding. Simon, thank you for the brilliant photography,
nice memorabilia to keep of the race…
My family wanted to watch the race too so we
decided to travel by car and got terribly jammed near Waterloo due to a nudists
bike demonstration and lost a lot of time, arriving at the HQ just before the
deadline for registration. Panic. I got
straight into the race without any warm-up and without having ever ridden the
course before.
At the start I was actually in an OK position, next
to Mike and he kindly had a few words for me that the first 5mins would be totally mental. Mike, thank you for this and you were so right, I
thought I might stick to your back wheel for the first 5mins but had lost it
already before the first right hand sharp bend. Those two right handers at the
bottom of the course where totally awful, not a single lap that I got through
them anywhere decent, that’s were it got all wrong for me, totally “shell-shocked”. After the first lap I
had already lost ground, second lap almost crash in the bottom bend, third lap
cracks start appearing further ahead of me, fourth lap taste of blood in my
mouth, fifth lap I felt the lactic locking down my legs, game over. Soon there
was a group of six or so around me and we saw just fragments of rider ahead of
us., recovering a bit on the following laps but still not getting around the
second bottom right hander, almost crash again. Others had same problems,
there were probably a dozen riders crashing in those bends. After 17mins my
first look at my computer and I thought “blimey, the race is almost over”. After
21 minutes I see Mike again, opposite where the uphill meets the downhill and
suddenly it dawned on me we might ( -:
get lapped. At 26mins I saw Mike again, this time in full swing flying
past our group and for a 10th of a second I though to try and follow this lead group and maybe get back on to the main
peloton in case they are about to lap it too.
Watching it from the side makes the race look kind
of effortless but riding it is the total opposite. This was the most technically
challenging course I have ever ridden.
Every lap I was fearing for my health. Anyone who manages to get around this
course fast and furious and still get into the top 15 earns my sincerest
respect. Anyone who manages to get onto
the podium is a star!
